Movie Night Gone Bad

[Pstallo]

Okay, so it's 'daddy-daughter' night and we've gone in the Porsche to dinner and to see Hotel Transylvania 2. While we are in the theater, it rains buckets.

We climb in the car and I turn the key. It tries to turn over like crazy, but just won't fire. Battery is perfectly charged, starter is giving it all it has. I had half a tank of gas in it.

My first thought was fuel pump, but all fuses were intact.

I open the deck and see that there is some water on top of the plugs/distributor, but the entire air intake side of the engine is perfectly dry.

Thanks to AAA, the car is in the garage.

Has anything similar ever happened to anyone? My first plan will be to get a towel and a fan and try drying everything out in the engine bay, but what would you check first?

[mreid]

Bet it starts in the morning. Dry out the distributor cap.

[martidj]

you need to get your distributor dried out. Try spraying W-D 40 inside the distributor cap.

[DRACO A5OG]

Do you have the stock airbox or cone?

Check under the dizzy, see if t is wet. Post some pics.

[Pstallo]

I have a cone filter. The AAA fellow tried spraying some sort of aerosol starter into the air intake to see if it would catch while I was trying to start it. He said, "it's not a fuel problem, it's a fire problem--if your were getting fire, that would have at least started it"

I will definitely investigate the distributor and post back. It could well help someone else with the same problem later.

[DRACO A5OG]

Good.

Okay, a cracked dizzy could definitely allow water to get in there. Make sure it has the inner dust shield, with out it, it will not seal as well.

Jim

I wash my engine bay often and I soak the hell out of it. Always starts.

[Pstallo]

You probably can't tell from this picture, but everyone was right--there was a small amount of water inside the distributor. I dried it out and had to use q-tips to clean it because the dust inside had turned to sludge.

One crank and it started right up!

If I had known that (and had ANY tools in my car) I could have fixed it quickly and moved on. I have been working on my toolkit list. Looks like I need to add a towel, q-tips, and a long flathead screwdriver to the list!

[wayne robson]

pstallo, At least you know next time,. Water can get into the dizzy even if is not cracked,
and the stock air box is a big help, as Draco A50G says he has been lucky and never had a problem with water, only takes a minute to place a plastic bag over the dizzy when washing with rubber bag.What happens with water inside the dizzy,as soon as you start it the rotor and revs picks up the water and throw it to the top electrode connections ,also what can happen is car can start then after the dizzy heats up can condensate from moisture on outside of dizzy to inside then car can stop.The best way to dry inside cap is with a slightly damp cotton rag then a dry one to finish,unless you spray WD 40 but that is also better to wipe off after as well. regards. Ask me why i know,because i was born in the
city of Invercargill New Zealand,hundreds of inches rain every year,same city that Bert
Munro lived,----The worlds fastest Indian.

[Pstallo]

You're right, I feel like I've gotten a little bit of an education on this one. I would have been just as happy if I could have read about it rather than lived it, but I'm pretty sure I'll remember it!

[DRACO A5OG]

Well, that was easy.

So how was the condition of the cap and shield?

[turbo owner]

Cap rotor and plugs might be a wise investment.

[Pstallo]

I've no real comparison to base it on, but the inside of the cap was pretty grimy and my rotor only vaguely resembles the one on our hosts site, so I think I'll go ahead and make that investment. i only see a black distributor cap, though. I wonder if they sell a red one

[Justin@Athens]

I say that this is one part you spend the extra change on any buy genuine Bosch cap and rotor. Other manufacturers can be hit or miss in terms of longevity and construction tolerances. I had a buddy buy a cheap ebay unit for his e30 the other day, and it was the "right" part, but was so badly manufactured it would not even fit over the rotor.

[sugarwood]

While just parked, is it common for heavy rain to get into the dist.cap on a 3.2 ?

[Pstallo]

It never has before, and I wash the car and even steam cleaned the engine bay last weekend and have never had a problem. It was a short, but severe rain.

The only recent difference I made was backdating the heat. It may be that the heater blower protected it from getting wet before.

[jlex]

WD40 supposedly stands for "Water Displacement" 40.
For your toolkit, think of getting an 18" length of 1" copper pipe to slip over the handle of your alternator nut removal wrench. You're going to need it as a breaker bar if you're on the side of the road with a broken belt. I wasn't able to get that nut off using just the tools in the kit.

[DRACO A5OG]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

While just parked, is it common for heavy rain to get into the dist.cap on a 3.2 ?

If internal dust shield is missing or damaged it can cause an air gap that can suck in water ergo no start. For the most part it is water tight. I have sprayed water directly on top of mine and no water gets in, dry as a bone.

[Arne2]

I drive mine year-round in Western Oregon, and as you may know, it does tend to rain here during the winter. Mine is apparently well sealed, it has never let me down yet, even after sitting in my work parking outside in the rain for 9 hours. So they can be sealed properly when everything is in good shape.

[Pstallo]

Arne, have you backdated your heat? Mine has been drenched plenty of times, but this was the first time since I removed the heater blower. The other possibility is that I dislodged the cap a little while I was backdating the heat--'cause I was all over the distributor while I changed it over.

[DRACO A5OG]

^^^ that is definitely possible.